Kelley Drye Represents Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Committee of Unsecured Creditors

Kelley Drye has been retained as counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Bender Shipbuilding & Repair. Bender Shipbuilding is the fourth maritime creditors’ committee engagement awarded to the firm over the past year. A Kelley Drye team also represents the committees in U.S. Shipping (New York), Derecktor Shipyards (Connecticut), and Hawaii Superferry (Delaware).

On June 9, 2009, three of Bender’s creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama.  On July 1, 2009, Bender consented to the bankruptcy filing and had its case converted to Chapter 11.  The Committee was appointed on July 22, 2009 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Administrator for the Southern District of Alabama.  On July 31, 2009, the Committee selected Kelley Drye as its bankruptcy counsel.  Kelley Drye is working with Bender and its advisors to evaluate various restructuring alternatives in an effort to preserve Bender’s business as a growing concern and maximize returns to creditors.

Based in Mobile, Alabama since 1919, Bender Shipbuilding is one of the world’s major builders of tugs, barges, drydocks and mid-sized ships and special purpose vessels.  Bender-built vessels sail the world from the Far East to Africa and from Alaska to South America.  Bender also has drydocking and repair facilities that can handle virtually any size ship that can pass through the Panama Canal.